Adventures in Southern Seas eBook

CHAPTER XXXIV

WE AGAIN EXPLORE THE CAVES

During the two days which followed the making of our
compact with Captain Montbar we were busy with our
preparations for a second visit to the place of the
painted hands, where we knew that gold was to be obtained
for those who had the courage to carry it away.
This time we sailed round, so that we were saved the
journey over the cliffs. We had caused to be
made for Hartog, Janstins, and me dresses of sail-cloth,
with masks like those worn by Inquisitors, the eye-holes
being filled with glass. The sleeves of the jacket
were made long, so as to cover our hands. Our
sea boots and breeches we knew to be impervious to
hornet stings, and, thus equipped, we hoped to succeed
in carrying away the treasure which the Lamakera fishermen
had abandoned.

We took the smallest of our ship’s boats, in
which we rowed ashore, and, leaving the crew at the
entrance to the caves, we three, as silently as possible,
propelled the boat along the stream into the interior.
As we progressed we met with evidences of our former
visit. Lumps of stalactites lay where they had
fallen when shaken from the vaulted roof by the discharge
of our firearms. The body of the lad Bruno was
also to be seen, half submerged, in the water of the
stream. Close to the body was the heap of gold
dust, and this we began to load into our boat, making
as little noise as possible lest we should disturb
the hornets from their nests.

We worked rapidly, and in less than an hour we had
filled the boat with as much as she could carry of
the heavy sand, nearly all of which was gold dust,
when a humming warned us of the approach of the hornets.
We had brought with us but a single torch, so as to
avoid the light which we knew would attract the swarm
of venomous insects, as also the bats and flying creatures
which had made their home in these wonderful caverns;
but the solitary gleam, in so much darkness, seemed
to burn with the brightness of a conflagration.
The smoke, also, from our torch, ascending into the
vaulted roof of the cavern, was beginning to disturb
the weird dwellers from their gloomy abode, and already
ghostly, bat-like forms began to fill the air space
above our heads. It was time to leave, and, reluctantly,
we began to push the boat toward the mouth of the
cave, promising ourselves to return next day for more
of the precious stuff; of which there appeared to be
an inexhaustible supply. As we neared the entrance
to the cave, however, we were startled to observe
a peril which had hitherto escaped our notice.
Poised over the arch of the narrow passage was a mass
of rock so finely balanced that it seemed to be held
in its place by the weight of a number of bat-like
creatures clustering at one of its angles. As
we approached, these bats, startled by the light of
our torch, began, one or two at a time, to rise from
their resting place, causing the rock to topple toward
us. Thus we stood in danger of being crushed by
the mass should it fall as we passed the entrance,
or, worse still, if it fell before we escaped into
the cave beyond, we might find ourselves entombed
alive in this dreadful place, to become a prey to the
horrors of which we had had previous experience.